Posted on 09/05/2008 8:04:04 AM PDT by pissant
Barack Obama's campaign is flatly denying a story told by former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton, who cast an ex-Black Panther turned Muslim businessman and lecturer as a key Obama mentor but whose story seems off in at least one key detail.
Sutton's story, told in what NY1 said was a March 25 interview, has been lighting up the conservative blogs for the last week.
Sutton, now in his late 80s and mostly off the public stage, told NY1's Dominic Carter that he was asked to write a letter of recommendation to Harvard Law School on Obama's behalf by a man named Khalid al-Mansour of Texas, "the principle adviser to one of the world's richest men" who was also "raising money for [Obama]."
Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt told Politico that "Obama did not know and does not know Khalid al-Mansour."
LaBolt said Obama doesn't have a relationship with Sutton and that "to our knowledge, no such letter was written." Obama was in Chicago, not New York, when he applied to Harvard.
The person to whom Sutton was apparently referring, al-Mansour, is a former Black Panther and an adviser to Saudi royalty who has produced, as Amanda Carpenter noted, some YouTube clips that would light up cable television if he's actually been close to Obama. He's also been quoted backing the Palestinian side in the Middle East conflict, though he has not been quoted supporting violence there. NewsMax's Kenneth Timmerman reported yesterday that he spoke to al-Mansour, who wouldn't comment on Sutton's story.
"Any statement that I made would only further this activity which is not in the interest of Barack," al-Mansour is quoted as saying.
Sutton's story is particularly difficult to follow at one point: that al-Mansour was "raising money" for Obama. Obama attended Harvard with the help of student loans, as the Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet reported in detail at one point, writing that he had $42,753 in debt.
I left messages for al-Mansour and for Sutton, but haven't heard back. Sutton, an eminence in Harlem politics, has not been well lately, people who know him said; I also left a message for his son.
Sutton supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary and was quoted saying of Obama at the time, "We don't know the other person in this election — we've never met him."
And why has there been zero interest in this story in the MSM, unlike the keen interest in whether Sarah Palin attended multiple colleges.
Ping
I would suspect the “was raising money for Obama” refers to the present. I don’t see any reason Percy Sutton should lie about having been asked to write this letter or the person who asked him to do so.
$42,753. What's that, like one semester (tuition + room & board) at Harvard?
How do the Obama’s afford their mansion?
What a hack this reporter is. What is difficult to follow about the concept that this former Panther could easily have been raising money for the Alinskyite group(s) from which Bambi did his community organizing?
I also agree that there is no reason to believe that Sutton just fabricated this story. IIRC, the videotape of Sutton's admission pre-dates Bambi's candidacy.
There is a big hole in Obama’s past. From the age of 13 or so until he was editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Where are Obama’s friends from that era? Where are his Teachers?
How did Obama get into Columbia?
What brought him to Chicago? Didn’t he grow up in Hawaii?
I there were student loans there would be records of them and of payments. My guess is that he education was gifted by somebody.
There was so much moral and political sewage on Clinton in AR, most of it on the record in the AR Gazette and other credible sources. I was working for a guy from AR, who laughed when the Sink Emperor entered the race. He said there was so much baggage on Clinton, he didn't have a chance. He was a sleazy governor and a womanizer, like Gary Hart. He was sure Bubba was going to get the Gary Hart treatment. After Bubba became the nominee and actually won, he just shook his head and couldn't believe it.
Like a fool, I thought he was blowing smoke, Clinton couldn't have had all these scandals in his past and even rumors of infidelity. The media would have exposed Clinton.
Wow was I wrong, and the MSM will do the same for their golden boy, Obambi. Big difference now though, is that private 527 groups, & talk radio will try and get any negative about the Negro Messiah out there. Clinton was lucky in 1992, the MSM were able to hide all of Bubba’s sordid past from the people.
If Sutton wrote a letter to Harvard for Mansour, Sutton’s letter should be in Bambi’s school files. I don’t know what the practice is for archival material at Harvard for more recent students, but I do know that while researching a Civil War General, who attended Harvard University, and then Harvard Law School, the school archives had copies of a lot of stuff from his time there. They had photographs, copies of some of his papers, programs for student plays he performed in, newspaper articles about his law career, and finally, his obituary. Of course, knowing Harvard and Obama, whatever files are at the law school, they’re probably closed to the public and journalists.
Sheesh, that was probably the cost of the books, what about his tuition?
Indeed. This punk has had some nefarious sponsors. Wonder if old Khalid al-Mansour knew Frank Marshall Davis?
Yep. Something is rotten
My point was that if he only had $42k in loans, then there was a much larger chunk of money not paid with student loans. For Harvard, a humongous chunk.
And why doesn’t he bring out his old ‘community organizing’ buddies for testimonials to his success and wisdom?
Now THAT, my friends, is some cracker jack reporting! You think they'd be content to "leave messages" if this story concerned Sarah Palin?
No, there would be 47 reporters and camera crews camped out on Sutton and al-Mansour’s front porches demanding answers and a team scouring the records of payments at Harvard.
....Yet the MSM feigns they are neutral while they ignore same, attack Palin and continue to suckle on the O-man nipple, and drink the warm Messiah milk of the chosen one.... until they can get him the Presidency.
Right. He holds up his community oranizing as a badge of honor. Why doesn’t he give us a rundown of what he accomplished, who he worked with, etc...?
The weasel words always used by lawyers when they are lying.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.